by William R. Hawkins (NAPSA)—America’s wealth makes it a target. The halls of international conferences, whether at the United Nations, the World Trade Organization or elsewhere, are filled with the familiar refrain of self-righteous delegates from failed states and guilt-ridden Western intellectuals complaining about America’s success. With only five percent of the world’s population, the U.S. produces more than 25 percent of the world’s output. America has held this lead position in the world economy for over a century. By 1900, America’s captains of industry had turned the country east of the Mississippi River into the world’s manufacturing hub. At the same time, cattle kings and prairie farmers had turned the lands west of the “Big Muddy”into the world’s largest breadbasket. The rest of the world could learn to do the same, but other governments would prefer the shortcut of shifting industry from the U.S. to developing countries. The most effective tool for income redistribution is “free trade,” which is whyitis the first priority at both the U.N. and the W.T.O. Underits banner, transnational corporations will be encouraged to move more factories out of the U.S. to “more deserving”lands overseas. This approach sees the world as a zero-sum game, where the only way for one people to gain is to take wealth away from other people. It is not a view conducive to peace. Indeed, it would very much approximate the “state of nature” described by Thomas Hobbes in the 17th century as “a warof all against all.” There is already a growingliterature about potential conflicts over water, oil and arable land, but in the mod- ern world it is technology and industry which determine who will have the weapons needed to prevail in such conflicts. If the future of the world is to be one of endless struggle over the distribution of wealth, then the United States cannot afford to let its manufacturing power base be further diminished by predatory “free trade.” Whether the redistribution of America’s wealth is orchestrated by international organizations or transnational corporations, it must be resisted by U.S. leaders whose duty is to protect the prosperity and security of the American people. e William R. Hawkins is Senior Fellow at the U.S. Business and Industry Council in Washington, D.C.
